WAR CRIMES BY JAPANESE

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24866, 4 May 1946, Page 7

WAR CRIMES BY JAPANESE

MAJOR SUSPECTS ON TRIAL GENERAL TOJO AMONG PRISONERS (Rec. 12.30 am.) TOKYO, May 3. The trial of the major Japanese war criminal suspects has begun. General Tojo, who was Prime Minister when Japan entered the war, and 25 other leading suspects were brought to the War Ministry building under heavy guard for arraignment. Tojo, who was in the centre of the line, wore a dark suit and a khaki army cap. The chairman of the tribunal (Sir William Webb), said the Court should consider the cases without fear or favour. The fact that the defendants had been of high rank would entitle them to no more consideration than if they were privates. While the Indictment was being read in Japanese and English, Shumei Okawa, once a South Manchurian railway official and an advocate of an aggressive war to drive the whites from Asi* startled the Court by playfully smacking Tojo on the head. Okawa began praying, and then shout gibberish which even the Japanese could not understand. A guard grabbed Okawa an 4 settled him firmly in his seat. Okawa again resoundingly slapped Tojo’s bristling head as the former Prime Minister busied himself with papers. Tojo merely grinned. Okawa was dragged from the Court. When he returned after the recess he

! Reading the bulky indictment will be completed to-morrow, after which the defendants will enter pleas all of which are expected to be not guilty.